1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for generating a pulse.
2. Description of the Related Art
An impulse radio-ultra wide band (IR-UWB, referred to as ‘UWB’, hereinafter) communication system has been focused as a technique for reducing power and leading a short-range sensor network. Unlike the existing narrowband communication system using a super-heterodyne scheme, the UWB system uses a homodyne scheme based on a direct conversion in a baseband. Here, the super-heterodyne scheme, a scheme of employing low frequency amplification, is to converting a radio frequency (RF) signal into a lower intermediate frequency (IF) signal once, amplifying the converted IF signal, and demodulating the amplified signal, and the homodyne scheme is available for a direct conversion in a baseband. Thus, the UWB system does not require a frequency shifting process at a transmitter/receiver, so it is available for non-coherent communication. Also, the UWB system does not require a local oscillator (LO), a phase locked loop (PLL), and the like (which is called carrier free). The simple structure of the UWB system leads to a reduction in a material cost and fabrication cost, a reduction in size and power consumption to lengthen a life span of a battery, so the UWB system can be easily applied to a WPAN (wireless personal area network) and a WBAN (wireless body area network) as an application for a mobile device.
In order to achieve low power consumption, a core technology of the IR-UWB system, a novel method for generating a pulse signal is required. The related art all-digital pulse generator is implemented through a 65 nm CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) process which disadvantageously incurs a high cost. Thus, a pulse generator and a pulse generation method which may be able to exhibit maximum operational characteristics through a low-cost process such as 0.13 um CMOS process are required.